Trolley-catcher.



No. 790,931. PATENTED MAY 30, 1905. L. B. STANLEY.

TROLLEY OATOHER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22. 1904.

NITED STATES Patented May 30, 1905.

TROLLEY-CATCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 790,931, dated May 30, 1905.

Application filed July 22, 1904. Serial No. 217,670.

To all 1.0720172, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUOEAN B. STANLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oollinwood, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Trolley-Oatchers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an automatic trolleycatcher, having for its object to provide means to arrest the upward movement of the trolley-pole when the trolleywheel slips or runs off the overhead wire. This object is effected by attaching the end of the trolleyrope to a reel or drum, which tends to wind up the rope by the power of a coiled spring.

' A pawl is provided which normally prevents this winding action, and the pawl is engaged and actuated in such manner that when the trolley-wheel leaves the wire the sudden pull on the rope releases the pawl and allows the spring to wind up the rope and draw the trolley down. The result is desirable to prevent the trolleypole from striking the cross or guy wires which support the current-wire.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein the device is illustrated, Figure l is a side elevation showing the device applied to a car. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectiona View. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation, the casing being in section.

Referring specifically to the drawings, 6 indicates the dashboard of the car-platform, to which the device is attached; 7, the overhead wire; 8, the trolley-pole, and 9 the trolley-rope attached to the pole.

10 indicates the casing of the device invented by me, within which is a frame 11 of proper form and construction to support the operative parts.

12 indicates a vertical shaft around which is coiled a spring 13, which sup lies the power for the device. One end of t e spring is fastened to the frame at 14 and the other end is secured to the shaft. At the upper end the shaft carries a bevel-gear 15, which is in mesh with a bevel-pinion 16 on a horizontal shaft 17, which is carried in suitable bearings in the frame. Upon the shaft 17 is a ratchet-wheel 18 and a drum 19, upon which the end of the rope 9 is wound. Pivoted in brackets 20 over the drum and ratchet is a swinging pawl-piece 21, the point 22 of which is properly positioned to engage the teeth of the ratchet-wheel. This pawl-piece has a laterally-extending weighted arm or portion 23, at the end of which is a hole 24, through which the rope 9 is threaded. The pawl-piece is capable of being swung in two positions, in one of which the pawl-point 22 is in engagement with the ratchet-wheel and in the other of which the point is free therefrom.

The set or normal osition is shown in Fig. 3, wherein the paw -point 22 is in engagement with the ratchet-wheel and prevents the device from acting. The rope 9, as shown, extends through the hole 24. If and when the trolley-wheel jumps the wire, the sudden ull on the arm 23 throws the same up, which disengages the pawl from the ratchet-wheel, and the rope is wound up on the drum by means of the power-spring heretofore referred to, and the trolley-pole is held down until the operator by a pull on the rope unwinds the drum and resets the pawl.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a trolley-catcher, in combination, a casing, a shaft therein, a spring connected to and coiled around the shaft, a rope-winding drum having its shaft geared to the said shaft, and carrying a ratchet, and a rope-actuated pawl engageable with the ratchet.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LUCEAN B. STANLEY.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. BOMMI-IARDT, SHIRLEY BOMMHARDT. 

